GDS to continue with 2017 show

Show organisers are taking steps to recover lost visitors.

Despite lower visitor numbers than expected for the latest edition of the GDS footwear exhibition, the event will take place next year in Düsseldorf as usual. The attendance, which totalled around 15,000 for the July 2015 event, dropped to some 12,500 in July 2016, leading to reports that a number of industry commentators believed the event's existence was in doubt.

Nevertheless, show organiser Messe Düsseldorf announced that GDS will continue in 2017, with the first edition to be held in the west German city on February 7th-9th. In a change to the current schedule, the organisers revealed that the second GDS show next year will revert to September, scrapping an experiment with July dates that began in 2014.

Commenting on this decision, Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, president and chief executive of Messe Düsseldorf, said: "Three years ago, we agreed with trade and industry to pitch GDS as a communications and information platform at earlier dates… In view of market changes, the sector feels that it is important to have GDS moved closer to the season."

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 3 of the November 2016 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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